This disclosure relates to a novel clathrate compound, a curing catalyst containing the clathrate compound, a composition for forming a cured resin that uses the curing catalyst, a method of producing a cured resin that uses the composition for forming a cured resin, and a cured resin obtained using the production method.
Epoxy resins have excellent mechanical properties and thermal properties, and are therefore widely used in all manner of fields. An imidazole is typically used as the curing catalyst for curing these epoxy resins, but in epoxy resin-imidazole mixed liquids, curing initiation tends to be very fast, which creates a problem in that the one-pot stability is extremely poor.
Accordingly, as an alternative curing agent, the use of an acid addition salt of an imidazole obtained by adding a hydroxybenzoic acid to an imidazole (see Patent Document 1), and the use of a clathrate of a tetrakisphenol compound (such as 1,1,2,2-tetrakis(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane (hereafter abbreviated as “TEP”)) and an imidazole (see Patent Document 2) have been proposed. These acid addition salts of an imidazole and clathrates do provide a certain amount of effect, but the development of additional catalysts having either similar functionality or superior functionality has been keenly sought.
Patent Document 1:
Japanese Examined Patent Application, Second Publication No. Hei 04-2638
Patent Document 2:
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 11-71449